


"You don't strike me as a profesional killer." "That's why I'm so good at what I do."

by FanFiction_Artist_Prototype



Series: Mafia Lance [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Continuation, M/M, Mafia AU, Mafia Lance, Original Character(s), Original Slash, Slow Burn Relationship, part of a series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-05-02 04:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14537010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFiction_Artist_Prototype/pseuds/FanFiction_Artist_Prototype
Summary: “I’ll deal with him Princess.”“Did you really think you’d get away with hurting them.”The sequel to my 'The Mafia isn't that bad...' story, it is the third in the series and picks up where the first work left off.





	1. Chapter 1

_**Last time:** _

_**”** _ _**You’re Lance Sanchez aren’t you.”** _

_**“Don’t be silly Keith, that guy died nearly four years ago why would-“** _

_**”No. He’s right. Took you all along time to notice, I knew Keith would figure it out first though.”** _

_**There's a silence and he can see them replaying over everything and their faces drop at every little hint, conscious or not, that he dropped.** _

_**”Like I said, I just thought of how DEAD Iverson is gonna be. Oh god, I wish I could see that.” His team mates faces drop in disgust at his words and even Shiro recoils.** _

_**”Oh don’t be such big babies about it. We’ve all killed before, I remember you guys cheering at the Galra battle ship exploding yesterday, who knows how many living creatures were on there when it blew up. Why sometimes, I don’t even really think of ourselves as heroes. I mean heroes win all the time, we certainly don’t. I’d say we’re more...mercenary type folks, travelling the ever expanding space between us and the Galra empire in search of our next target.”** _

_**He can see it an on them and they stare at him as he finishes: “If anything, I feel right at home. We’re almost like the space Mafia.”** _

* * *

The statement makes them gawk and it sends Lance into another round of insufferable giggles before he hears an outraged sound that he's only heard a few times. Stopping his laughter abruptly he locked his eyes on the scowling form of Hunk, who's fists are clenched and shaking as tears prick in the corner of his eyes, that to be honest is what makes Lance jump up straight away, he wants to step forward to help his best friend; but Hunk stops him.

"Don't even think about it Lance." The cold tone is nothing new to him but it's new coming from Hunk. So, instead of getting upset or annoyed like he normally would he just keeps calm and his expression blank.

"Why did you do it?" That's a confusing question, and Lance really wants to ask 'do what?' but that's just cliché. "Why did you help me and never get me to do anything about it." He knows it isn't helping his situation at all, but Lance can't help but smile at Hunk, who's hands still and shoulders slump at the expression.

"Because I didn't need anything from you Hunk. Why would I ask somebody to deliver something I didn't need them to? When I first arrived at the Garrison I wanted to leave home behind, I planned on just ignoring you for the three years we would be room mates but. I wouldn't stand for someone to get bullied, I've seen my fair share of violence bud, but non of it was undeserving."

"What the hell do you mean it wasn't non-deserving!? You grew up in the mafia Lance!" He can hear Shiro's anger before he see's his taut stance, he folds his arms and gives back a gaze just as intense as the one being directed at him by his leader.

"So you're telling me that rapists- child rapists- shouldn't be killed? You're telling me that somebody responsible for kidnapping and torturing fifteen children shouldn't be strung up? Or that a police officer who accepted money in exchange for him to be speared while he let the rest of his squad be mowed down by gangs, should be set free?"  

He can practically see the moral war going on in the Black paladins mind. He sees Hunk and Pidge still gawking at him. "And so what, if in school I had people keeping tabs on each other, it isn't that big a deal."

"Do you even hear yourself Lance!? You say you wanted to leave that life behind but you ended up practically having your own equivalent to the mafia at the Garrison!" He sends a scowl of his own Keith's way; "Well atleast I wasn't okay with watching a girl get beat half to death."

"I didn't watch! I tried to stop them!"

"You did shit! I did more with words than you ever did with your own two hands! You're all acting like I'm some sort of cold blooded monster, but we've all killed. I just happened to of been born into it!"

There's silence and then a little whisper that he barley catches, but he knows his eyes are blown wide as he turns back to Pidge, barley realising that he'd been shaking in anger. "Did Jacque know? Or was he just another pawn like the rest of us Lance?"

He grits his teeth, how dare they bring him up. How dare they act like he fooled around with Jacque, how dare they act like he treated them like pawns! He treated them like they were his siblings, his family.

"How dare you." It's seethed out, harsh and angry and Lance has to remind himself to not let his bloodlust spill out. He can sense the tension in the room rise, he can see in the way Pidge gulps that the Green Paladins has figured out they crossed a line, can see in the way that Hunk's hand twitches that he's ready to protect Pidge if Lance tries to attack. Can hear in the way Shiro's breath sharpens slightly that he's picked up on a line being crossed and is ready for a fight and can hear the almost silent noise Keith's boots make telling him that he's also ready for him to jump Lance.

"You know what?" He see's his (he's not sure if to call them ex or not) best friends faces drop. "If I'm not wanted I might as well leave. Just remember, you have just as much blood on your hands as I do."

And with that, he makes his way out and off of the training deck, nearly crashing into a wide eyed Allura and Coran, before he passes them and go hides in the one spot they wouldn't expect. The Air lock.

* * *

Lance had found, that ever since he came into the air lock after the 'haunted' castle incident that he like the cold space of metal. It was quiet, peaceful, had a great view and nobody would ever think to look for him in there. So. There he was, sat in the air lock, gazing at the stars just past the door.

 

"You do know how to play a good game of hide and seek I'll give you that."

He doesn't look at Allura, just shuffles so the princess can sit besides him. "I didn't know the Altean's had hide and seek."

"We don't. Pidge..." He knows she can see the way he flinches slightly, "Told me about it once."

He hums and continues to avoid looking at the princess beside him. "Coran and I heard everything Lance, we aren't going to judge you. I judged Keith too quickly once and all that did was cause tension in the team." He nods at her words.

"And I would like to know why you were so angry at the team.”

He glances over out of the corner of his eye now, “I was angry because they act like I asked to be born into a Mafia.”

He can see the scrunching up of the eyebrows and pursing of the lips before he even hears the confused tone. “And what is a...Mafia?”

He can’t help but laugh at the question, he would of thought that somewhere like Altean would of had some sort of organised crime, but it appeared that all Alteans were peace loving hippies, who just so happened to have the capabilities to build the universes most powerful weapon.

”An organized international body of criminals, so when a group of people join together under one person, called the Don, and commit crimes for money, drugs or guns. They get people to pay money to protect them from other gangs. The difference though between a gang and a Mafia is that whereas a gang will have people on the streets with guns visible and have tattoos everywhere or even just have something that points to them being in the gang...a Mafia has class. They could be teachers, business men, politicians people with influence and money. They won’t have anything connecting them to their crimes. They look like everybody else but work covertly and don’t take prisoners. A Mafia also believe heavily in God, if we pray for forgiveness all will be well, or at least that’s what Papi used to say. If I were to put it simply, a gang is a group of people who smuggle guns and drugs, a Mafia are the people backing and supplying the gangs.”

Allura held a thoughtful expression before she spoke, “So what you’re telling me is that, just like my Father was in charge of the armies, but he wasn’t directly responsible for anything they did, this...Don gives the orders and is in charge but doesn’t have anything that could connect him to his actions.”

”Yeah. It’s funny really, I was born into the Don’s Family. With the way I put it you’d think that I wouldn’t know anything but being a spoiled brat...but my father made sure that I knew how to kill, how to seduce,” He can see Allura cringe,” And how to get what I want with words. I’ve killed people Allura. Other humans beings, because I was raised into that it doesn’t bother me. But it bothers them Allura. The people I hurt...they deserved it. Princess...they hurt people because they found it funny, because it gave them enjoyment. To me it’s just like taking out the Galra. They hurt somebody so we hurt them. And in exchange we offer protection if the planet helps us.”

The white haired girl seemed lost in thought, before she let out a small laugh, “When you put it that way we do sound like these Mafia fellows.Now, tell me about Jacque.”

Lance could feel the smile spread on his face, but only because he hadn’t smiled that big in so long.

”He’s got hair the same colour as Coran’s, amazing Green eyes...a shade or two so darker than Pidge’s shirt. And he’s from one of the other nations on Earth, France, and he has this really nice accent. He was a fighter pilot before me, I’d originally started talking to him asking for flying tips and we just grew close from there.”

”From the dreamy look in your eyes I believe you were just a little more than friends then?” He can hear the teasing and when he looks over properly at Allura he sees the little smirk on her lips.

”I think I’d of cried if we were t Princess, he was just amazing. Helped me at the Garrison a lot, helped me feel comfortable speaking Spanish again as well.”

”He seems very important to you Lance, is he one of the reasons you’re so keen to get home?”

”Yeah...his grave probably needs new flowers by now.” He can see her face drop. “Oh. Lance, Quiznack I didn’t-“

”It’s fine Princess, he got caught up in a crash at the Garrison. Some stupid first year thought they were clever stealing Iverson’s cruiser...crashed into the side of the building, the wall crumpled in on itself, killing the driver, Jacque and two other students instantly. He died awhile ago, so I’m better now. That’s one of the reasons I felt angry to be honest. Pidge asked if I just used him, I wouldn’t of used him and I didn’t nor ever did I consider using them the way they’re insinuating I did.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

“He sounds like he was very brave.”

Glancing sideways at the princess he nods, it felt nice to talk about Jacque. He hadn’t ever really wanted to do it, everybody seemed to just get over it so quickly and it hurt somewhat to think that people didn’t care. But he had bypassed it. If nobody wanted to mention it then surely they just felt as Lance did and simply didn’t want to talk about it.

”I believe we should return to the bridge, Coran has the other Paladins continuing with another exercise, this time without long range support.” Allura’s got up quickly, holding her hand out to help Lance up, which he accepted.

”You know Princess, you’re a lot sneakier than I think I’ve ever given you credit for. Tell you what,” he carefully nudged her shoulder, not knowing if he was overstepping his boundaries or not,”Next time we go to the space mall I’ll pick you up something shiny?”

He heard her laugh and it made Lance smile, it felt nice to be able to get her to laugh for real, not one of those fake laughs she and Coran did when they didn’t understand.

”I’ll have to hold you to that one Lance.”

”Don’t worry, you won’t have to.”

* * *

Lance frankly enjoyed the walk to the bridge, it was interesting to say the least. With his persona, he’d never really been sincere or gotten close to the princess, and now he was seeing a new side of the usually strict royal - This was the side everybody else saw all the time. It was nice to be included in that.

”I swear to you Princess, no more flirting from me... towards you at least.”

She chuckled at that and it made him smile, maybe she could be his friend now? He’d obviously just lost the trust of everybody else... Oh shit, how were they supposed to form Voltron now? Surely they could push it aside for the fate of the Universe right? They had to, it wouldn’t be like them to let something like this keep the Universe in danger, they’d fought without trusting each other before, right? When they’d been getting nervous from his open aggression in training they’d never let that effect them.

”-ine it wouldn’t be the same without your flirting Lance!” He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost missed Allura’s words. Attempting to not look lost, he smiled at her and nodded happily.

If he was being honest, Lance didn’t want to see Coran, the other Altean was like a role model for Lance - happy, friendly, loved and funny. And most of all, the eccentric man was good. He wasn’t bad or damaged like Lance was. How would someone like that react to...well...him?

”You’re gazing into nothing Lance, is there something bothering you?”

”No, Princess. Everything’s fine.”

The look she sent him told him that she didn’t believe him, but did it really matter? He was probably going to be kicked off of the team anyway, it didn’t matter if she thought he was lying to her about his feelings.

* * *

 

Walking through the door to the bridge, Lance bristled slightly at the look Coran was giving him. It was one of disappointment - a look he had hoped he would never have to see again.

”You know Lance,” he looked down, refusing to look Coran in the eye with Allura by his side with crossed arms, “I’m quite disappointed... If you were part of a criminal organisation you should of said something! I could of used your help with the space pirates when we were getting the lenses!” 

The mans tone lifted immediately and he was smiling at Lance, who stood there mouth wide open and eyes shocked. “I- what?” His mouth felt dry as he closed it, swallowing hard. Coran of all people didn’t care? He- he did hear everything that he’d done right? Everything that he’d said right? So why?

”Oh!” The gasp caught Lance’s attention and as he looked back again, not realising he’d looked away, he saw Coran pulling a handkerchief type thing out of one of his many allusive pockets, “What are you doing crying my boy! You earthlings sure do have sensitive emotions! I thought I was being encouraging!”

Wiping his eyes with his sleeve he refused the Altean’s handkerchief, letting out a little chuckle. It hurt to hear it- it sounded forced, it sounded broken. “Y-you didn’t upset me Coran, you just made me really happy is all!” He gave the man a closed eye smile, before looking away again. Oh god, how did he get so lucky to have two people like this actually support him?

His own friends didn’t trust him, yet these two people (Aliens? Like could he even call them people?) that he’d known for less than half a year were willing to actually trust him and see past the horrible things he’d done.

Allura clapped her hands together getting both their attention, “Okay, so now that we’ve gotten all this cleared up, Coran we need to get this sorted out with the rest of the Paladins. Lance says that there’s a bit of tension between them again.” She turned to face him exclusively, “Can you still work with the team?”

”Yeah, it’s just about if they’ll want to work with me.”

* * *

 

“Is anybody going to explain to me what you and Hunk were going on about Pidge?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is shorter and terrible really, but it’s also a filler chapter so -\’_’/-

“Paladins, report to the bridge immediately, we have a serious matter to discuss.”

Shiro looked at the speaker then back to the others, they’d just finished explaining to him about Lance and his reputation at school. He didn’t understand how with what they had just described Lance could be part of the mafia. But he understood the others disgust and outrage, they felt betrayed and lied to.

* * *

 

”This isn’t going to work Princess, they’re just going to ask for me to be removed from the team. I might as well take a pod and leave.”

”Lance you will do no such thing, you are a member of Voltron and you shall stay as one. The Blue lion saw you as you when she accepted you as her pilot and she saw everything that you have done, and yet she still accepted you. Understand that.”

He nodded and closed his eyes for a second as he took a deep breath. Walking off to the side as Allura and Coran stood on the ships platform as the other Paladins entered the room. It didn’t take an genius to figure out the stares of distrust were directed at Lance.

”Princess.”

”Paladins, it has come to both mine and Coran’s attention that due to-“

The Castle’s alarm went off before the princess could continue and when the holoscreen came up, it stopped all other thoughts.

Two cruisers each twice the size of anything they’d fought before landing on the planet they were currently stationed on. Thankfully it was uninhabited, but the size of the ships meant trouble.

”To your lions immediately, we will discuss the matter later! Quickly!” 

Without even missing a beat, Lance made his way to his tube and jumped down, cursing the galra.

* * *

 The fight didn’t start well.

The others didn’t trust him, he knew that, but he thought that they would ignore it just for now, just so they could survive... apparently he was wrong.

He could hear the chatter between the other four pilots, but he might as well of turned off his radio. Nothing was directed at him and he was essentially out of the loop. Ducking under an arch in the canyon they were manuvering through Lance cursed quietly as he nearly clipped the wall.

His head was all over the place right now, he shouldn’t of been allowed in the cockpit never mind fighting in a dangerous (and potentially deadly) situation.

“Mierda.” The word slipped out of his mouth when they exited the canyon, the sheer size of the ships finally registering. They looked gigantic on the screen but up close looked to be bigger than Voltron, and there were two of them... and they couldn’t form Voltron. Dear God, he thought, what the hell were they supposed to do? Or, he thought again, what am I supposed to do?

The other four zoomed off without warning, leaving Lance behind. Probably had a secure line that he couldn’t hear, it’s what he would of done. Trying to keep up with his fellow Paladins he barrle rolled out of the way of a laser hearing it hit the rock face behind him. The sound of tumbling rocks and electricity in the air from the proximity made his stomach turn.

”Okay guys! Focus, we need to work together to defeat them!” Lance drowned the rest of Shiro’s words out, he recognised this tactic. The ships weren’t even using the massive ion cannons that were on top of them. They should of been using them. 

This wasn’t the true fight, Sure the lasers being fired at them would probably damage the lions, they wouldn’t incapacitate them though, not by a long shot. Stopping his Lion, hovering a bit off from where they others were he looked around, pausing when he noticed another canyon exit that the ships were blocking the view of.

He sighed, of course it would be this. Of course he would be able to spot what was happening when they wouldn’t listen to him.

”GUYS!” He didn’t care that he was screaming, the ships had just come from their hiding spot, and he was the only one floating high enough to see them, “GUYS IT’S A TRAP! THE CRUISERS AREN’T THE MAIN THREAT!”

He went to continue but stopped when he saw that they’d blocked his line, This was ridiculously stupid now. The ships got higher, they were going to attack from the sky. The enemy fighters crested the cruisers completely and he sighed, “What the hell Blue?” Before zooming upwards in the lion, right into the midst of the galra forces. 

* * *

 It was a struggle, but he managed to not get him and blue blew to smitherines. The others joined in when he crashed down in the middle of them, catching their attention finally. They were able to destroy most of the fighters, the cruisers taking damage when the burning carcasses of the fighters hit them.

The fight was starting to turn in their favour when a third cruiser approached from the sky, thankfully this one was half the size of the other two. “Alright team, FORM VOLTRON!” Lance held his breath, he hoped they would be able to do it, he really, really did.

* * *

 

They couldn’t form Voltron.

And now, they were in a firefight against three ion canons and and lasers as well as about fifty small fighters that survived the original fight.

Lance kept quiet throughout the fight, he needed to focus. He needed to think of a way to get them out of this situation. Retreating wasn’t an option, that would just lead the, to the Castle (if there wasn’t already another ship there) and Voltron was also off the table. They were royally screwed over. He cringed when he heard the other Paladins frustrated words and screams of pain whenever their lions were clipped with the ion ray.

Diving from above with the ‘Jaw sword’ as he’d dubbed it, he slashed at the base of one of the canons barley scratching it. “My Lion can’t break through the hull!” Hunk’s voice sounded over the radio, and for the first time it what must of been two hours (it could of been longer, the fight was starting to drag on.) he replied to the voices on the radio, “Same here! Blue can barley scratch it! Maybe we could try using the lasers!”

The Blue Paladin quickly dodged a ray blast and looked wide eyes as the beam of electricity went straight towards an unsuspecting hunk who was slashing repeatedly at his own canon.

”HUNK! NO!”

He didn’t hesitate when he flew towards Hunk, he didn’t hesitate to bash the yellow lion out of the way, and he didn’t hesitate when he let out a piercing scream of agony as the full front of the ion canon hit him.


	4. Chapter 4

When the pain stopped, he panicked. He couldn’t breath, he couldn’t breath. His chest felt constricted as he tried to force even a little bit of oxygen into his system. Nothing was working and the black screen of his lion making him blind didn’t help. His radio was silent.

Blind, deaf and unable to breath. What a way to die.

Gasping eventually, after the electricity coursing through his veins seemed to finally leave him, he coughed, and cringed when he felt liquid on his chin. Wiping it away, he was relieved to find it was saliva and not blood. It was now that his thoughts of dying weren’t consuming him, that he noticed a quiet ringing in his ears. Was there anything else that the universe wanted to throw at him? Was he about to find he was missing a limb as well!?

A flash happened and Blue seemed to wake up, the screen flashing up again and the soft blue light filling the cockpit again. What he saw was not something he had ever expected to see.

The cruisers were destroyed, from what he couldn’t tell, the reckage was too scattered to tell. But that wasn’t what made him shocked, it was the fact that his friends were out of their lions, their bayards too far from their reach with guns behind their heads. His stomach dropped.

* * *

 His lion’s awakening was obviously picked up on by the galra holding his friends prisoner.

Leaving Blue, he walked out and towards the soldiers, bayard unactivated in his hand that was at his side, the other tapped a rythum on his leg. “Blue Paladin, are you here to hand yourself over like your friends? Or are you perhaps stupider than our sources said you were, and you have come here to fight us. We are far more powerful than you, your little bayard is nothing against us.”

Despite the need to scowl, scoff or growl at the soldiers, Lance kept his expression blank and cold. It always unnerved someone when their threats didn’t work. They were obviously strong, they’d disarmed and taken down all his friends, not an easy feat.

He stopped, gazing at his friends, the anger that swirled his chest threatening to bubble over and spill as hateful words out of his mouth:

Pidge, brave and brash Pidge, was trembling. Her helmet strewn in an unknown direction, glasses cracked and a gun pressed into the back of her head, small pinpricks of tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.

Hunk, Strong and loving, was stock still. Helmet also gone and eyes glassy and wide with fear the gun was pressed to his temple.

Keith, Stupidely brave and impulsive. Helmet missing and face as blank as his own, but Lance wasn’t stupid, he could see the twitch of his limbs. He was forcing himself to not move, to not get himself or the others killed, the gun was pressed to the back of his head.

Shiro, the leader. Still, with a vacant face. The expression of a man who knew he was going to die. He had the gun to his temple also.

Dropping his bayard to the floor, he saw the terrified expressions cover all of his friends faces, saw the way that the Hope died from their eyes when they thought he’d abandoned them.

He looked off to the side taking note of how the lions weren’t too heavily damaged, scoffed, and looked back at the Galra who were looking at him with raised eyebrows and confused expressions.

”I don’t need my bayard to take you guys out.”

He took a step forward, taking note of how the ones pointing the guns seemed unnerved by his bold claim, but still pressed the guns deeper into the other Paladins heads. He bit back a growl. This wasn’t about being aggressive, This was about intimidation and mental dominance.

”I don’t actually even need a weapon, you see him.” He pointed at the smallest Galra out of all of them - the one with the gun to Pidge’s head. “You really think he’s on your side? He’s been our undercover agent, given us plans, guard rotations. How do you think we were able to find you guys so quickly? You really think that a ten thousand year old battle ship has the capabilities to pick up the frequencies of these ships? You really think someone as weak as him would actually be apart of your empire? He defected, came running to us with his tail between his legs.” He gestured towards the wreckage and then at the guard, who’s stature was pathetic compared to the others.

Surpressing a smirk he saw the shift. The other soldiers were looking at the smaller one with murder. They didn’t even need proof. They didn’t have enough info on Voltron or the Castle. They didn’t know how they operated. They were trying to make sense of a mystery that they’d probably been asking since the lions showed up.

”I don’t need a weapon because you guys are going to take each other out for me.” They didn’t hear him, too distracted by the arguing and accusations that had broken out, he picked up his bayard, activated it and waited. The last gun was removed from the Paladins heads.

They obviously didn’t expect them to move as they argued and Lance finally saw the restraints.

He gave one last look to his friends, mouthed the word ‘Duck’ and fired one shot at the reckage behind the arguing soldiers, causing an explosion that sent them straight to Hell.


	5. Chapter 5

It was silent on the way back to the Castle, the others didn’t say anything and Lance didn’t attempt conversation. He’d done his part, he was willing to work with them but their previous trust obviously wasn’t there anymore. It didn’t matter that he’d saved them, the look of fear and their refusal to make eye contact afterwards was a clear a message as any. He didn’t need words.

”Paladins! What happened!? We received a distress signal from your lions, unfortunately the Castle is still in no shape to move so we were unable to reach your signal. Is everybody alright?” It was quiet for a few minutes and Allura asked again, it seemed nobody was in a good enough shape to respond. “They’re fine Allura, just a little shocked. We’ll be returning to the Castle soon, can you please have Coran prepare four pods though?”

”Of course Lance.”

* * *

 When they returned to the Castle, Lance took a step back as the other four Paladins were ushered out of their hangers and quickly moved into pods to assess their injuries. Lance, slouched against Blue’s paw, helmet on the floor as he curled up and shoved his head into his knees.

What the hell had he done? Now they were probably more scared of him, they wouldn’t trust him. This was just the cherry on top that they would of needed!? Sighing, he lifted his head and leant it against the cold metal of the lion, why? Just why? He didn’t even want any of this. He left home, left his family behind, so that he could start over. Get away from violence and death and have an ordinary life- a life where he wasn’t told what to do every second or how to live or who to kill. A life that he could call his own. He didn’t have that though did he? No, he might as well of stayed in Cuba. His life was still dictated to him, this time by a princess of a dead planet and the psychotic emperor of a super nation, he was still surrounded by bloodshed and violence, only this time on a universal scale.

He really was the universes biggest fuck up wasn’t he?

”See you later Blue.” He patted the lions paw before standing up and stretched before leaving the hanger to get changed out of his uniform and into his own clothes. He’d had enough of being a Paladin for today.

 Allura found him in the kitchen, he’d been picking at his food goo when he noticed the princess standing in the doorway with an awkward apprehension.

“How are they?” It had been eating at him for a few hours now, but he just couldn’t bring himself to see the other Paladins, besides if he went there, one of them might of told Coran about his electrocution and he just wanted to get over it on his own, not rely on the Altean technology.

 “They are fine, no serious injuries,” Lance felt himself become awkward as he saw Allura become more assured and seem angry,”However, Lance, you’re fellow Paladins have informed Coran and myself of what happened.” He gulped, setting down his spoon and sighed. Great this was going to go one of two ways. Way one: Allura and Foran had been told about his injuries and he was going to be carted off to a pod with a lecture, or way two: The princess was here to talk to him about how he’d handled the situation.

”You should not be so nonchalant about injuries Lance! You were subjected to the full force of an ion cannon, that is not good for you. Coran expects you to be in the med bay as soon as possible, he’s already busy with the others, so I would hurry before you put him under stress.” 

Way one it was then, thank goodness. “Alright Princess, I’ll go now.”

Coran, to say the least, was not impressed with him. That much Lance could have told without being trained to read people. The Altean stood there, arms crossed and foot tapping the floor. He looked like a disappointed parent (or, Lance thought, like Veronica when he stole her makeup when he was six.)

”Pod.” The man only pointed to the open capsule and Lance simply nodded as he made his way over to his pod, spotting his teammates in the other pods next to him.

* * *

 It was awkward when he got out of the pod Lance was the last one awake, having gained the most injuries, meaning that he woke up to the other Paladins crowding him. Keith and Hunk’s faces were almost pressed against the glass of the pod while Pidge and Shiro stood back from the pod, close but not as close as the other two, watching him with a vested interest.

Lance felt his muscles tense when his body jolted back from the other bodies in front of him, there wasn’t much room in the pod anyway, never mind when his body subconsciously threw itself back. 

“Quiznack Lance! You’re okay!” Lance was swept up into a tight hug by Hunk who was soon after crying into his shoulder, all he could do was stand there and awkwardly hug the boy. What was going on? Why was Hunk in tears as he hugged him? Hadn’t they been angry with him? Hadn’t they been ignoring him during the fight?

”Don’t you ever do that again Lance! Allura checked Blue while you were in the pod! You had a heart attack Lance! You could of died! Y-you did for a second.... All because I wasn’t watching my surroundings!” 

Oh...Oh.

”Come on big guy, tears don’t suit you.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, it isn’t just random stuff, this chapter has an important place in the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Hunk made video diaries during their time at the garrison. The first two take place just before Jacque dies. (The timeline in this AU is completely different to the canon one.)

**Video Log #1A**

_*Lance sat on a bed in what seems to be a dormitory* So... um, well I guess this is my first video diary... so... I don’t know what I’m meant to do, Hunk what do I do?_

_*Shuffles off Camera*_

_*Second Voice off camera, presumably Hunk* I don’t know man! This was your idea, I know I’m gonna tell my Mom that I love her, so just start there?_

_*Lance nods looking towards the direction of the second voice before turning back to the camera* Okay, so that was Hunk. He’s great, my best friend and dorm mate. You guys would love him, brilliant cook and mechanic. Isn’t that right Hunk?_

_*Second Voice/Hunk laughs* I said tell your mom you love her, not talk about me!_

_*The camera turns to show a flustered Hunk* So Family, this is what Hunk looks like, just for context._

_*The camera turns back around and faces Lance who’s grinning* Anyway, love you guys, and missing you all. Hope you guys miss me as well, Ve make sure Tony doesn’t wreck my room please?_

_*Lance looks back in the direction of Hunk* So, what do I say now?_

_*Hunk appears next to Lance, shaking his head* I don’t know man? Anyway, nice to kinda meet you Mr and Mrs MCLain! And, all of Lance’s siblings! Okay, it’s my turn with the camera._

_*Hunk reaches towards the camera and the feed shuts off*_

* * *

**Video Log #113B**

_*Lance sat at a desk* Hey guys, guess who just moved up a grade?_

_*Lance points his thumbs towards himself with a happy smirk* This guy! You should of seen Iversons face! Iversons the teacher by the way, he couldn’t get over it!_

_*A voice speaks up from outside of the cameras view* Lance what are you doing?_

_*Lance gestures a hand over to the unknown person and a small figure with gingerish hair in a bob-like hair cut and glasses appears* I’m making a video diary, Hunk and I have been doing it for a while now!_

_*The person looks at the camera* Oh, cool. So do you guys send it to your families or is this like live?_

_*Lance smiles widely again* We send it to them at the end of each week, so anyway._

_*Lance gestures to the person that’s sat on the bed next to him* This is Pidge. Pidge meet the family, family meet Pidge. He’s a great guy, though, we can’t get the simulator right yet. *Lance rubs the back of his neck and chuckles slightly awkwardly.*_

_*Pidge waves at the camera before moving out of its view.* I have to study, I’ll see you and Hunk in class._

_*Lance waves to Pidge and a door closes in the background* So... that was Pidge. I know I just said he’s great, but I’m not sure on him. He snoops around too much for my liking. I’ll have to be a bit more careful from now on. Anyway, as always, love you guys._

_*Lance reaches for the camera* Lance out._

_*The feed shuts off*_

* * *

**Video Log #200D**

_*Lance sat on his bed, eyes red with tears still in them* Well... It seems you won’t ever get to meet my boyfriend..._

_*Lance’s first clench and he looks off to the side* Some stupid idiot killed him, some other students and themselves. Fucker stole a teacher’s cruiser and drove it through a damn wall._

_*Lance’s fist unclench and are now in his lap* I... I don’t really know why I made a diary entry about this? *Upset laughter* I guess- I guess I just needed to talk about it? Nobody else is talking about it, they’re all just saying sorry to me and then getting on with it... Should I be this upset? I mean, nobody else seems to be this upset. Oh god, Mama I seriously just want to go home. I’ve got to meet his mother next week, his mother! Because the Garrison think it would be a good idea for me to explain to her why her sons dead. I’ve never even met the woman, in person I mean, and they’re expecting me to break the news because they think it will be better coming from me!? *Lance starts to break down crying*_

_*Feed shuts off with a quick image of Lance crying as he leans forward*_

* * *

**Video Log #450H**

_*Lance is in causal clothes, though his uniform can be seen strewn on the chair in the corner* So, this might be the last one for the week, I don’t think much is going to happen anyway... so... Anyway, Hunk and I are going to go search for Pidge. He’s gone missing again. No, not actually missing. He just... goes somewhere all the time._

_*Lance turns his head wide to side as if checking that he’s alone* Like I said, Pidge always knows too much, I’ll probably add to this later when we get back. I’ll just pause this so I can continue where we left off._

_*Lance leans over the camera*_

She stood there, hand over her mouth as she stared at the recording, it just ended there, her son never came back to finish his Log. He was always careful... this wasn’t normal... Lance would never of allowed anybody to hurt him or his friends. She didn’t care what that school told her, her son had not just disappeared off of the face of the Earth over night. Something had happened to him.

”Mama... are you looking at Lance’s tapes again?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TIME SKIP OF THREE MONTHS:  
> THE TEAM HVE GAINED ENOUGH TRUST WITH EACH OTHER TO JOIN TOGETHER AND FORM VOLTRON, HOWEVER, THEY ARE NOT LIKE THEY WERE BEFORE.  
> (Also this is half a chap, because I’ve written three chapters today (this being the third) and it’s also a reference to a comment that I got and that I’ve finally gotten around to adding in!)

Lance had first noticed something was wrong during training, he’d been taking down target after target, ruthlessly. He didn’t need to hold back anymore, and more often than not they won the simulations quicker each time.

It had been just after the last gladiator had fallen when he noticed how the door was open. Coran never left the door open, it was a safety procedur in case the gladiator thought the arena had expanded. That was what had alerted him, what caught his attention was when a purple flash moved out of his vision. “Hey Keith.” The Red Paladin grunted at him to acknowledge him, but Lance didn’t move his gaze from the door, “Are there meant to be any blades here today?”

”No... why?” He could see the Paladins take notice of him now, “Well... then I think we have a problem.” He moved forward towards the door and jumped back when a galra that stood at about eight foot (nearly two and a half meters) rushed past the door firing a few warning shots into the room before making his way further into the Castle. They’d been breached.

”Go! Get him!” He wasn’t sure who exactly had shouted, but Lance didn’t waste a second in running out the room and down the hall, catching the (ironically enough) tail end of the soldier, as he turned the corner. Chasing the galra he managed to get within a reasonable distance when he put his bayard into active mode. He fired a warning shot just a bit to wide singeing the wall slightly and he cringed. Coran would not be impressed. Keith came up on his right, taking the already distracted galra by surprise and using the wall as a spring board pushed himself off and landed feet first in the soldiers face. The giant toppled, unfortunately, taking Keith down with him.

”Agh! My leg!” Lance stilled quickly, abandoning his chase of the already rightened galra and radioed Shiro letting him know where in the Castle the enemy was. Crouching down next to the injured red Paladin, Lance didn’t miss how Keith flinched slightly as he put his hand on his leg. “Let me have a look, we need to get moving in case he comes back or the others need help.”

Reluctantly Keith released his leg and let Lance have a good look. 

Now, Lance had seen a lot of injuries in his time. He remembered distinctly the time he - with the help of his big sister- had sewed a nasty stomach injury of Marco’s up. But this, this made him feel sick. For one thing, Keith’s foot should definitely not of been pointing that way, for another there should not of been blood, mainly because he couldn’t see and ‘flesh wounds’.

”Okay, Keith, don’t look at your leg and grab my hand. Whatever you do, no matter how much it hurts you do not look at your leg am I understood?” He grabbed Keith’s chin when his head started to turn to his leg, “Oi! What did I just say!?”

Keith seemed to gawk at him for a few seconds before swallowing, “Don’t look at my leg no matter what.” Lance nodded.

“Brilliant, so follow my advice Samuri.” Grabbing Keith’s hand he yanked the boy up, not missing the very strained hiss that left his bitten lip as he put weight on his foot. The boy almost looked down when Lance slung his arm over his shoulder, purposely doing so in a way that would jolt Keith. But only slightly. “I said don’t look. Seriously.”

As they hobbled down the hallway Keith let out a self pitied chuckle, “You know, the more you tell someone not to do something, the more likely they are to do it.” Lance huffed playfully and looked forward and only forward. He allowed a small smile to rest on his lips.

”I’m aware. You prove that statement almost daily.”

”What’s that supposed to mean?” He could hear in Keith’s tone that he was annoyed, classic Keith. There was a reason he called him a hot head. Without meaning to he was always ready to pick a fight. “I mean, you’re always being reckless and almost getting hurt. What if one day you’re on a mission with the blades and you get hurt? You know how they are Keith. They leave people behind.” Lance lost his smile and kept looking forward. He would never admit it, but he worried when Keith went on a mission. He knew how reckless the Paladin was and knowing that the blade did just as he said, abandoned operatives if they were just a second too slow or got hurt only put him more on edge.

”Yeah well you aren’t so innocent yourself Mr Mafia are you?” Looking over his shoulder quickly Lance saw that thankfully the blood trail behind them wasn’t massive, so, Keith wasn’t going to bleed out.

”Bare in mind that I am the only thing keeping you up at the moment and getting you out of harms way.” Spotting the entrance to the med bay, Lance sped up, relieved when the door opened quickly and Coran was there already preparing a pod. Thank goodness the Castle had cameras. “He’s all yours Coran.” The Altean wished him luck before shivering at the sight of Keith’s injury as Lance ran out of the med bay, checking in with the others where the soldier was and stopped in his tracks half way down the hall when he heard that Allura had knocked the guy out with her staff, which Lance had yet to learn where she kept it.

* * *

 

“I refuse to answer your questions. You should just kill me now, victory or death!”

Lance stood next to his fellow Paladins (baring Keith who was not allowed on his feet anytime soon.) and gritted his teeth when the soldier spat out his words with a venom Lance was long accustomed to. He could see the others flinch. “Princess, I’ll deal with him.”

Allura turned to him with curiosity and he could see the worried looks sent his way, Oh. He thought with a small smile, they thought he meant  _take care of him._

”Not like that guys.” He sent them a smile letting them know he was being serious. The princess still looked questioningly at him.

”He doesn’t want to talk, I can make him talk. I can be rather persuasive when I want to be.”

The Altean asked no further questions as the she and the others filed out of the prisoners chamber and left the two of them alone. Lance stared up at the alien that towered above him, maintaining eye contact as he let his bloodlust deep out and gave a devilish smirk, “This is going to be very fun, not so much for you. But defiantly for me.”

He relished in the bead of sweat on his forehead and the flinch of the giant as he walked closer to the glass.

-*-

He still hadn’t even gotten to the door of the cell and he could see the galra about to crack. He didn’t drop his bloodlust aura the entire time.

Interrogations always seem like they’re about getting information. That may be the basic principle of them, but, they were much more than that. An interrogation was about getting in that persons head and getting them to willingly tell you what you wanted to know. Sometimes force was necessary, this interrogation included itself in the force is necessary category. Force also wasn’t always physical. After all, you wanted what was in their heads.

”You know, it’s be a shame wouldn’t it.” He didn’t elaborate, just sat down in front of the glass cage and pulled out the switch blade that he’d had since he was nine. He didn’t reveal that it was a blade, just messed with it in it’s folded state.

”Your pathetic attempts at interrogation will not work on me, you have quite the reputation Blue Paladin, it is not one for your brain power.” Lance looked down and smirked.

”Did you know, that one way many people get confessions is to get the person talking about themselves?” He looked back up, smirking again, and flipped the blade up nonchalantly in his hand. “You see, us humans just can’t help but feel compelled to tell our life story if somebody is interested, even, if that includes about how old Margaret Somoza beat Terry Grants head in with a baseball bat last weekend because he pulled one too many pranks on her. Funny isn’t it?” He threw the blade up in the air and caught it without looking, not losing eye contact with the alien.

”You see, the reason for that is, if something can talk, it has something to say. Now, like I said. It would be a shame wouldn’t it?”

The galra tensed and swallowed, his eyes locked on the knife that Lance waved around without a care as he spoke. “What would be a shame?”

”Oh you know, it’d be a shame if you lost the ability to talk wouldn’t it? You know, on my home planet, that’s what we do to snitches when we catch them. We hold them down and cut their tongue out. Humans can’t do anything without their tongue you see. We can’t speak, can’t eat. Completely useless we are. But you know what?”

He stood up now and walked closer to the glass, and despite their height difference and the glass between them the galra backed down, “We just don’t give up.” He laughed, and he knew it was a laugh that would disturb any that listened, he’d perfected it for that very reason, “But, and I don’t know what the galra do, I have a little bit of an idea of the impression they’d get if I sent you back without your tongue. So... tell me what I want and you won’t be without a tongue. How does that sound?”

Lance put on his most cheerful voice and saw how scared the alien was. It unnerved everybody to hear a threat in a lovely tone. After all, demons flee when a good man goes to war.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small chapter with no real significance but I have no inspiration and decided to publish it.

**Last time:**

**Lance put on his most cheerful voice and saw how scared the alien was. It unnerved everybody to hear a threat in a lovely tone. After all, demons flee when a good man goes to war.**

* * *

 Unfortunately for the soldier, Lance wasn’t a good man. And his demons didn’t flee, they flocked to him, helped him and empowered him.

”Now, are you ready to talk? Or, do you really want to see how far your commitment to the phrase ‘Victory or Death’ really is?”

He saw the fear in his eyes, saw the terror starting to take hold, but also saw the determination in his tightened jaw. Stabbing his knife into the glass out of nowhere he relished in the _tiny_ almost  _silent mewl_ that escaped the soldier at his aggression.

“I said, are you ready to talk?” He didn’t hide his agitation this time voice dripping in the same venom the bastard had thrown at his friends mere minutes before, pulling the knife out to see small vein like cracks spreading from where it had hit the glass. Thankfully he wasn’t powerful enough to put a whole in the actual glass, and he could see the cracks were on both sides of the glass. He could blame it on the prisoner.

He still seemed to be resisting, so, Lance did what he did best. He used his words.

”Let me tell you a story. It’s a story about how three galra crusiers were taken out by Voltron.” He saw the recognition, “Oh you know this one don’t you? Well let me elaborate, let me tell you the story of what happened to the bastards who thought it’d be a good idea to hold my friends at gun point.”

-*-

 He smirked when the galra nodded. Finally, he was coming to his senses.

”Oh, and just so you don’t think about lying, I will be having all this information checked out. So... Unless you want another visit you should make sure you’re not lying.” He turned to walk away, but stopped just after he’d hidden his knife again and turned his head to look at the terrified solider, “Oh, and next time? I’ll be in the cell with you.”

He smiled cheerfully as he exited the door, walking past his fellow Paladins calling over his shoulder to the princess, “He’s all yours princess, I’m gonna go check on Keith.”

* * *

 Allura had gotten everything she wanted out of the galra and when Pidge checked it all out it came back as correct information. Looked like he didn’t need to pay him another visit.

He sat next to Keith in the lounge, the red Paladin still not allowed to train for the time being, the pods healed yes, but they didn’t stop injuries reoccurring if the person was to risky. Keith was sat there, looking at anything but him and Lance couldn’t blame him. They hadn't started off very well when they first saved Shiro and since then all they had done was argue. 

“What’s your favourite colour?” He looked up at the ceiling and smiled when he heard a semi-indignant noise come from Keith.

”What?” Laughing slightly he turned his head to look at the slightly bewildered expression on the red Paladin. “Sorry, it’s just, This was an awkward silence and I realised we barley know anything about each other. So...”

He saw a little smile of understanding come to Keith, “So of course you asked the randomest question you could. Classic Lance.” The half Galran smirked as he looked at him and Lance settled back into the couch getting himself comfortable.

”I don’t really have a favourite colour to be honest, I mean a colours a colour right?”

Lance couldn’t help his smile, that was such a Keith answer. “Seriously? You don’t have a preference? What about the blue of the ocean or the green of the forest? The yellowish, link and lilac tint the sky gets just as the sun starts to rise?”

”Nope.”

”Mines-“

”Blue?”

”No.”

”Green?”

”No.”

”Pink?”

”Getting closer.”

”Purple?” He could see Keith was hoping it would be the answer.

”Yep.”

”Huh, never pinned you as a purple guy. Mr Mafia is full of surprises.”


	9. Chapter 9

(A time skip of a few weeks since the last chapter)

* * *

 Alarm bells went off in Lance’s head the entirety of the mission, but he’d pegged it down to paranoia. There was nothing wrong with the mission. It was a simple gun their way through the ship and hold off the guards long enough for Pidge to get the data before they used their five man army to get back to the lions.

He really wished he’d listened to those alarm bells now. What was lesson number one? If your brain tells you something’s wrong it probably is. That had been the lesson drilled into him from day one, over and over, till he could recite it fucking backwards it’d been drilled into him. And yet, he’d ignored it. He’d grown complacent and what had that gotten them? It’d gotten Keith and Pidge captured, and Hunk and Shiro injured nastily. One advantage of being a sniper with previous experience, you knew where to go so that you wouldn’t get shot at.

Hunk had had to drag him back to his lion, he’d nearly attacked his best friend to get to Keith and Pidge. He couldn’t handle it. He’d seen too many people be dragged off and not come back. Too many people, too many friends and too many family members. His life wasn’t supposed to be like that anymore. He was supposed to be able to go to sleep without having one eye open, he was supposed to be able to do something and not have to carry his knife everywhere. He should of been able to close his eyes and open them and Keith and Pidge would be right in front of him - because this should be a nightmare. But it wasn’t. This was his life still. Going around like a mercenary for hire, shooting people for a living and leaving the people left behind to pick up the pieces.His own words came back to haunt him as he stood in Blue’s hanger, ‘I feel right at home, I mean we’re almost like a space mafia.’

“I’m such an idiot.” He was, he really was. Of course something had been wrong. It wasn’t even just with the mission, it was with the team as a whole. He’d ignored it because he was used to... the team couldn’t deal with the fact that they now killed for a living. It had been presented to them and the reality of what they did was shattering them.

”War doesn’t determine who’s right... it determines who’s left.” He remembered Veronica telling him that once after he’d asked why people had wars, why their family fought with another gang, when the idea their father had presented made the most sense. How had he been so blind?

It was clear in the way Shiro’s eyes went alittle bit hollow when he thought nobody was looking, it was clear in the way that Keith’s hand always wavered when he sliced through a training bot - an after image of a living creature coming to haunt him, it was clear in the way that Pidge did her best to try and go the way with the most bots her innocent mind wanting to preserve life as much as possible and it was clear in the way that Hunk was always hesitant to pick up his bayard, the life’s of so many painting their hands red.

Well, he thought, if their hands are red mine must be black.

He had grown up with killing, he’d seen death all his life, he’d agreed to kill - he’d grown to kill. Like the tattoo on his back said, ‘Life is chosen by God and Death by us.’ That was what he lived by, what he’d been trained to live by. Of course he hadn’t seen the signs. How was he supposed to? He’d grown used to killing someone by his second kill. Of course the first one still haunted him, the first kill always haunted you. Even if you became at peace with it, even if you accepted that it had to be done. It was always there nagging at the back of your mind asking you ‘Was I really worth it?’

A loud purring sounded in his head and Lance smiled, placing a hand on his lion’s leg. “Come on girl, we have people to save. Let’s show the galra not to mess with us.” He put his helmet on and grinned devilishly when he heard the lion hum in agreement.

-*-

He was glad the lions had a secure network because Allura finally seemed to notice he was gone by the time he’d gotten close enough to the galra ship to see it with his own two eyes.

The Princess’ worried face showed up on his left holoscreen, demanding that he explain his actions. “I noticed that something was off with the mission and didn’t say anything princess, I should of been able to prevent my friends from being taken. I’m getting them back.” Though it was rude, he closed the network before Allura could continue.

Stopping his lion a few meters away from where he was going to park Blue he took a deep breath. Looking down at his lap he saw his bayard and his pocket knife. He doubted anybody even knew he had the knife. He may of opened up to the team a little bit about what his old life used to be like, but he’d kept a majority of it secret.

He folded his knife back up and stuffed it in between his armours belt and the stretchy undersuit. Moving blue forward and stationing her on the outside of the ship.

-*-

He’d used his jet pack to get to the nearest air duct/ the galra ship version of one, and had kicked his way in, climbing through the ships ventilation system. Thankfully, he’d been on enough Galra ships and in enough galra vents (that was weird to think about) to know how to get to the prisoner bay. It seemed the galra worked on one blueprint and made almost no variations except in how big or how many weapons the ships had.

Checking that there were no centuries in the vicinity, Lance once again kicked the vent grid out, dropping down to the floor and quickly looked both ways, firing up his bayard.

Silently he stalked through the ship and got to the first set of cells, checking inside revealed that no one was inside any of them. However, he had to quickly duck around a corner when a century walked past him. Walking up behind the robot, Lance got right up behind it and used his activated bayard to bring the robot into a choke hold position and break its head from its neck. Once the robot started to fall, Lance grabbed the head in one hand and let the entire weight of the machine rest on him as he dragged it into an eclove our of sight, before smashing the but of his gun on the robots limp wrist separating the hand from the rest of its body.

There. Now he had a way to open the cells.

Once again, he made his way down the halls, only this time, he had a robotic hand with him as well.

When he eventually found the right cell he’d already taken out an additional four robots and killed two live galra soldiers. It was his friends or them. He’d made his choice. If he let them live they’d of gone running and it was a lot harder to pull a unconscious living body than it was to drag a broken robotic one.

Looking in the window he felt a growl make its way up his throat. How dare they. How dare they hurt his friends!?

Slamming the hand on the doors scanner he watched as his two friends flinched when they saw a figure in the doorway. They’d been captured for two hours. How the fuck had they done this is two hours?

Pidge was held up off of the floor by cuffs and her glasses were on the floor broken, she had blood dripping from her nose and a head injury that her hair was hiding. One eye was swollen shut while she also had bruising on her face. That wasn’t mentioning the other lacerations on her body only visible from where whatever they had used had cut straight through the undersuit they all wore.

Keith had obviously taken the worst of the beating, because he wasn't even fully half conscious. He had blood from cuts all over his face and bruises made his jaw look twice the size it should of been, he also had a head injury that was slowly bleeding out as well as other lacerations. And, heaven forbid, his knee looked sickeningly twisted.

It took him a few ticks to try and figure out what to say and wanted to hit himself when he finally spoke, “First mission that you’re allowed back on your feet and you get your leg injured again.” 

Realisation seemed to slap them in the face because the two Paladins smiled crookedly and bloodily. Pidge rasped out in a voice ripe with pain, “Where'severybody else?” 

Leaning over her head to get at the lock keeping her chained Lance pulled out his pocket knife, not missing how their eyes widened at the sight of it, wedging the cool metal into the lock and jiggling it around until the lock finally gave. “Just me I’m afraid. Shiro and Hunk are in the pods. Though, Hunk might be my fault. I put up a pretty good fight apparently to try and get back to you guys.” He laughed it off, but he could see how ghostly the two looked.

”Tough crowd.” That caused a rough laugh to escape Keith. “You gonna keep talking to yourself or are you going to unchain me?” Any other time Lance might if teased Keith, but his pained voice and pitiful appearance stopped him.

”I gotcha buddy.” Leaning over Keith to do the same with the lock, he became aware of a presence behind him before he even heard the soldiers voice. “Stop right there!”

He halted, but he looked at Pidge and then at Keith. The two looked terrified. They looked broken. His resolve settled and he nodded to himself. “Both of you, close your eyes.” The two looked terrified for a couple of secomds before doing as he said. Slowly standing up, he flicked his blade back into itself before he held his hands up.

”Turn around slowly.” Doing as he was told, Lance turned around slowly but just before his hand was exposed he flicked his blade back up and therw it at the guard, feeling satisfied when a clunk was heard as the body hit the floor.

Looking properly he felt a morbid sense of pride to see he’d managed to hit him right between the eyes without looking. Luis would be proud. Walking up to the guard, he checked to make sure there was nobody else, before dragging the body into the cell and pulled the knife out of his skull, wiping off the blood on his leg. He didn’t miss the flinch at the sickening squelch that was released as the knife left the soldiers head. 

“You can open your eyes now.” He saw Pidge's eyes open first and saw the way they widened with horror at the sight of the lifeless guards body and saw the way that Keith looked up at ceiling. Good, Lance thought, at least he was trying to ignore it. Getting back to work with Keith’s chains Lance spoke up to Pidge who was now shakily on her feet and still staring. “Hey.” She looked over and Lance had never wanted to pull someone into a hug more in his life, “Don’t look at it okay? Just look anywhere but at it. It’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything that could of stopped it, your innocent okay? Now just look at the ceiling. Ignore it.”

She nodded and he sighed in relief when Keith was finally released, but cringed when he saw blood start to drop from Keith’s lip from how hard he was biting it as he put pressure in his leg. Pidge quickly shuffled over pur his request and helped Lance get Keith on his back.

”Hold this.” He saw the terror in Pidge’s eyes as she held his pocket knife. “I want you to keep that safe alright. If I go down, you use it. It’s just like using your bayard, just smaller. You won’t have to use it, but just in case you do, know that the robots have the same weak points as a human.” She mutely nodded at him.

-*-

They made their way through the ship thankfully and miraculously without further interruption and Lance had noticed rather quickly that one of Pidge’s hands was grasping onto his armour as they walked.

They made it to the loading bay and Lance was relieved to see the Red and Green lions there. “Pidge, give me the knife and get into your lion.” The Shaking girl handed him his knife and wasted no time in getting into her lion. Walking as quickly as he could with his hands full and a barley concious boy in his back, Lance managed to make his way to the re lion and placed Keith in his chair before rushing out of the lion. He knew Red would would protect Keith, he always did.

Closing the bottom part of his helmet, Lance rushed over to the loading bays control board and opened the doors watching as the lions rushed out. He pressed the close button and jet packed through the closing slit just in time. Zipping up to Blue he climbed back into his lion and watched as Pidge and Keith started on their way back to the Castle.

Sighing, he sunk back down into his chair pulling his helmet off and cringing when he saw the blood on the inside. Great, he got injured at some point. The only saving grace was that he’d been able to recover the others helmets and bayard son the way over. Pressing a hand to his head he saw the blood on his fingers as he pulled his fingers back, it was coming from his hairline. When had anybody gotten a good enough hit on him to do that?

 “Lance! Lance come in!”

Lazily his eyes skirted over to Allura on the holoscreen.

”Sup princess.” He saw and heard her gasp at him before tears started to run down her face. “You really did it didn’t you?”

”It was easy as anything Princess, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it.” He sat up, and flinched when the pain suddenly shot throug him. “Lance?” He could see the worried look in Allura’s eyes. “It’s nothing princess... just tense. See you back at the Castle.” She nodded before her image was replaced with Keith who looked as ready to pass out as he felt.

”Mr Mafia strikes again.”

Smiling cheekily, Lance rolled his eyes, “And Samurai yet again causes a senseless leg injury to himself.”

”Shut up... I can’t believe you came all on your own and got us both out.”

”Don’t worry, you can repay me back with all your love and respect when we get back to the Castle.” He saw a small annoyed/embarrassed blush appear on the Paladins cheeks. “Bold of you to assume that I have an ounce of love for you in my body.”

”Hey, I’m all about being bold right?”


	10. Chapter 10

(This takes place immediately after the last chapter)

* * *

 Lance had had migranes before, he’d had headaches before, he’d had numerous head injuries before. But never before had he felt like this. This felt like a knife was being slammed repeatedly into his brain. Slumping into his seat he rested his pounding head into his palm and looked forward, he couldn’t believe how sluggish he felt. The pain in his stomach didn’t help his tiredness, though, that was just exertion.

A holoscreen popped up on his left and Pidge’s drained face made Lance sit up immediately. “Lance...” He looked the younger girl in the eye, seeing how she swallowed and tried to strengthen her resolve, “How did you learn to do that?”

”Do what?” She could be referring to a lot of things, but Lance had his suspicions about what she was talking about, “The... the thing with the Galra Officer,” she looked away and Lance felt sorry for her, Pidge didn’t deserve to see to see that. Non of them did. “With your knife... how did you learn to do it?”

He looked away from the screen and put Blue on autopilot so he could focus his whole attention on the other Paladin. “Why do you want to know?” She began to stutter and her eyes landed on her lap, before she looked back up. “I want to be able to do stuff like that.”

Lance felt his whole world begin to crash around him. Oh no, oh no. No,no, _no_. She didn’t want to be able to do stuff like that, she didn’t want to know how to practice that. She didn’t understand what she was asking of him.

”No.” it was his final answer and he saw her eyes widen slightly, expecting another response or something less somber. But he couldn’t answer any other way.

”But-“

”No. Pidge you...” he lowered his head, he couldn’t look her in the eye, “You don’t want to be able to do stuff like that. You shouldn’t know how to do stuff like that. I made a stupid mistake and it lead to another tally on my body count.” Her eyes showed understand at that comment.

”You don’t learn how to do stuff like that Pidge without people dying horrible, horrible deaths in the process. Besides,” he looked forward now, eyes focused on the beautiful galaxies on the ‘horizon’, “I’m not a teacher.” He cut the feed off before they could get into an argument and leant his head back.

”Jesus Christ.”

Rubbing his palm over his eyes her let out a sigh.

”What the hell am I supposed to do Blue? I just want to go home.”

He pulled out his pocket knife and turned it over in his hands a few times as the lions sped up as the wormhole opened up in front of them. Obviously the castle had moved since he’d left.

* * *

 Lance had never felt so relieved to get back to the Castle, the second Blue was landed, he left the cockpit and hanger, rushing to get to the other Paladins. He saw Coran rushing towards him and when the Altean man tried to fuss over him he waved him off.

”Can you get Pidge? I’ll get Keith.” Coran nodded at him and went in the direction of the Green Lion’s hanger as Lance made his way to Keith. He could only hope the red Paladin hadn’t been stupid enough to try and get up on his own.

-*-

“Took your sweet time getting here didn’t you?” The hiss went over Lance’s head as he hurried over to Keith, who was sweating and gripping his knee with a white knuckled grip. Lance didn’t know how to react initially so, stupidly, he spoke the first thing that came to his mind.

”I take it your knee hurts?” The glare that he was shot told him enough, and he raised his hands in an attempt to disarm the venom from the conversation.

”Okay, stupid question, come on. Let’s get you to the Medbay. Hopefully this time, you can last more than one day on your healed leg after it’s fixed.” He stepped away from the chair and watched as the Red lion moved the chair backwards so that it was easier for him to get to the Paladin.

”How are we gonna do this? I mean, no matter how I move you, it’s gonna knock your leg and hurt.” He crouched down so that he was level with the scrunched up boy, who’s pain filled face made his resolve tighten. “Bite down on this.” He quickly pulled off Keith’s glove and stuffed it into the slightly protesting Paladins mouth. “Listen, Keith, you’re probably going to want to scream in a few seconds so jus bite on it and stop whining.”

He received a shocked nod and carefully, he slid his hands under Keith’s legs trying not to jostle the other too much. It didn’t go very well though because as soon as Keith was stood up an awful hiss escaped his mouth as well as what Lance could of sworn was a very soft but powerful ‘Fuck’. He had to disregard Keith’s swearing for his own, not so soft, ‘FUCK!?’ as the red Paladins leg gave out on him and the stoic boy let out an unholy scream of pain.

 “Keith!” Quickly catching the boy, which caused a pained whimper to escape the boy, he shuffled him so that he wasn’t putting any weight on his injured and useless leg. “Damn idiot! You can’t just put pressure on it!” Lance didn’t notice the worry that slipped into his voice as he carefully made his way down the Red Lion’s ramp, trying to ignore the small pain filled noises the other Paladin was fighting to keep silent.

”If my knee didn’t hurt I would kick your ass Lance.” It had no venom (playful or otherwise) and it worried Lance slightly and the pale and sweating expression didn’t help matters - however, the small spark in Keith’s eyes was enough to put him at ease slightly. “Okay Samurai, you’ll do that I’m sure in training  _after_ you’re legs better.” A cough racked laugh was his only reply and Lance picked up the pace.

He did know that Keith would probably try and kick his ass for being so reckless, good intentions or otherwise. That was the type of relationship they’d developed after so long in space. Lance would call Keith out when he needed to and Keith would do the same. Not to say they didn’t pettily argue still, it was just far less petty and far more bitchy.

* * *

 

It had been a day since he’d returned with Pidge and Keith, Hunk and Shiro had woken up in that time amazed to see their teammates in the pods next to them. Though, after they learnt of the events that transpired after their entering of the healing pods Lance felt it would of been better if he’d been the one in the galra’s tourture chamber. Maybe then he would have some semblance of mercy instead of the pure and almost unfathomable rage of Hunk and Shiro for his stupidity and recklessness.

Not to say he didn’t deserve it, but he’d had enough lectures on the matter; Allura and Coran had chewed him out the minuet Keith was in the pod and Keith, who had been half delirious with pain, had given him a rather stern and caring reprimanding that the blue Paladin hadn’t expected out of his red counterpart.

Right now, he was sat in his room, staring at the four blank walls. It was something he didn’t usually do, it hurt too much to do so. The walls were clinical and empty- too much of a contrast from his room at home or the one in the garrison. Even though the difference should of been comforting it was nothing more than a stark ( _ha,_ He thought to himself,  _Stark like stark white._ ) reminder that everything was different than home. Even the hum of the ship drove him mad.

It was never quiet at the Garrison, except at around two in the morning when even the turely seasoned of night owls would gain enough common sense to know it was stupid to fall asleep in a simulation. There was always the sounds of footsteps of horridly stealthy kids who the security team were too bored to care about and the tapping of computers from those seasoned night owls. 

His home hadn’t been much different. He’d been lucky to live near the beach, so the sound of the ocean was ever present not to mention the foot traffic in the house was a 24/7 thing, not forgetting the actual traffic outside. Even then, they had thin walls in the bedrooms so that if anything happened everybody knew about it. Their father said it was so that if somebody needed help everybody would know, they were aware it was a deterrent from sex as nobody wanted their younger/older siblings knowing if they’d done anything that night.

But besides from that, the hum of the ship wasn’t even organic. He didn’t know how to explain that though, maybe it was that on Earth even when it was silent the electricity in the air made a humming sound and yet on the ship there was an unnatural humming sound that didn’t match Earth. That could be him just being picky and overreacting, again.

He shuffled on his bed, the pillow digging into his back, damn Altean’s sure liked having stuff necks in the mornings. The others said their pillows were soft, which didn’t surprise Lance. Even the night owls (Pidge and Shiro) had enough common sense to use a damn pillow. Lance on the other hand had woken up on more than one occasion on the other end of the bed, Pidge’s headphones wrapped around his ankle (though he had no idea how they had gotten there) and a section of the thin sheet they called a duvet bunched up over his arms acting as a pillow.

Shiro had pulled the fucking ‘dad’ card on him and was making him stay in his room until he recovered from his apparent ‘fatigue’ that he’d endured on his rescue mission. He didn’t need sleep; what he needed was a bath, some human interaction and to know that Keith and Pidge were perfectly okay. Climbing off of the bed he saw what’re the pillow had shifted to reveal his knife slightly. Not for the first time, he glanced at it wearily before grabbing a towel and walking into the bathroom that was luckily connected to his room.

He’d try and sneak into the common room afterwards. Right now, he wanted a good soak, but he guessed he’d have to accept the alien shower for the time being.

 


	11. Chapter 11

[This song reminded me of the direction I was originally going to take Lance in in this story. Who knows, maybe I’ll send him back down this path after all?](https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0)

* * *

 

Sneaking out of his room, proved harder than he first thought Lance discovered. Not only did Hunk have his door open (a door that he would have to go past) but he could also hear Shiro’s voice getting closer as he had nowhere to go.

”Pst!” Looking to the side quickly he was thankful to find Pidge in her doorway motioning for him to come in. Doing so quickly he saw Shiro just turn the corner as the door closed behind him. Looking the recovering girl over he noticed that she was wearing her normal clothes, though this time she had the sleeves rolled up revealing the bandages on her arms. He rose an eyebrow at that.

”Coran said that they were shallow. They should heal fine on their own.” It was reasonable he supposed, but still the look that Pidge was giving him, told him something else. He watched as the girl sat on her bed, her room was seriously messy when Lance looked properly, and leant his back on her door, careful to not let the small cut (that he had found had just started to heal) he had on the back of his head make contact with the wall. “What is it Pidge?”

He wasn’t blind to how nervous she was, or how her usually still hands were twitching and tapping together insistently. 

“How do you do it Lance?”

Despite it being a cliche he couldn’t help it when he asked, “Do what?”

”I...I mean, how do you just get on with life after you’ve...” she paused and Lance caught on. Walking over to the shaking girl, who’s hand had come up to her mouth as she tried to calm herself down.

He knealt in front of her sighing, “Pidge,” she looked up at him with glossy eyes, “I’ll just come out with it. You don’t ever get  _used_ to it.” Her eyes widened and Lance looked off to the side for a few seconds before holding the girls shoulders as he grimly looked her in the eyes again.

”I’m still haunted by the first person I killed... but, and this probably won’t help so I don’t know why I’m even telling you this,” he let out a self deprecating laugh, “Just... just think of it like this okay? Would they try to kill you? If you let them go free would they if placed in the same situation as you, let you free? If you let them free and turned around in front of them would they try and stab you in the back? How many people are they going to go on to hurt if you don’t stop them?”

The question seemed to swim around in the girls head before Lance sighed again, released her shoulders and stood up. “That’s how I think of it at least,” he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, “Like I said, it probably won’t help you though. But, don’t think about it too much. You’re a soldier now Pidge, this is your job and you do it to the best of your ability.”

Turning away, he walked out of her room. He hated when he had to be serious. Serious Lance was Lance Sanchez, not funny, calm, silly Lance McClain. Lance Sanchez was supposed to be dead, but it seemed the longer he stayed in space the more he became like his old self.

-*-

“Is Coran just not bothering with the healing pods today or something?” He asked as he slumped down next to Keith, who was sat on the couch in the common room. The black haired boy looked over at him, with a questioning expression before catching onto the fact he was talking about his leg.

”Legs all healed up. It looked a lot worse than it actually was. Doesn’t even hurt.” Lance twitched when he saw how Keith’s face contorted into one of regret as his hand hit his knee and an obvious pain rocketed up his leg. “Okay... so my leg  _is_ healed. It... it just really hurts. And I need to stay off of it for awhile.” 

It was just like last time when he hurt his ankle. “What about your other injuries? Your face was pretty beat up and you had dried blood all over you.”

”Huh? Oh, they got healed up pretty quickly. Pidge didn’t need to go into the pods, her wounds should be gone in a few days.”

The coloured counterparts sat next to each other, not speaking and not looking at each other. It was like some sort of force was making them keep staring at the wall in front of them and it was starting to piss Lance off. He was about to speak out when Keith beat him to it, “Thanks.” Looking in confusion at his friend he saw Keith had closed his eyes and was leaning his head back, looking ready to fall asleep.

”No problem bud.” He patted Keith’s shoulder lightly, not wanting to jolt his body too much. 

Lance looked forward, this time not getting angry. Keith had obviously made his way here by himself, there was no way Shiro would dump him here and then wander off. It was no surprise the guy was tierd. Lance himself wanted to hit the hay, but his body was buzzing again, just like that day he finally lost it in the training simulator. Except, this time it didn’t come out as those insufferable headache inducing giggles. Instead it was just a buzzing feeling underneath his skin.

He didn’t realise he was falling asleep until his eyes became too heavy to open.

* * *

 

When Lance groggily opened his eyes, he saw the castles lights were off, signifying it was the castles version of ‘night’. He also noticed that there was a blanket over him and the red Paladin next to him was still well away, albeit snoring softly and quietly.

God, he wished he had a camera right now. Keith looked ridiculously adorable, like a little kid taking a nap. Lance slowly got out from the blanket he was sharing with the other Paladin and stood up completely, stretching and hearing the pops of his joints in the process. He checked back on the other Paladin before sighing.

Should he carry him back to his room?

On the one hand, that position couldn’t be good for his leg or neck. On the other hand, Keith would probably wake up and start a petty argument about how he could do it himself. The Paladin was stubborn like that.

Compromise time. Shaking the other boys shoulder lightly he waited till Keith began to stir. “Keith, dude we fell asleep. Come on, I’ll help you to your room, this position can’t be good for your knee.” 

 

 


End file.
